Least dusty tumbling media.

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pacobillie

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Which type/brand of media produces the least dust? Or is there a trick to keep dust levels down. I have asthma and fine dust can be very irritating.
 
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Put bounce dryer sheet in the tumbler..or small pieces of rag.
Depending what media you use, some media make more dust than other.
Pets shop lizzard bedding has usually less dust..
 
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Crushed walnut, capfull of Nu Finish car polish, lid on the RCBS vibratory, little dust. I had bought a large bag from Princess Auto years and years ago.
 
I switched to SS Frankfort because I got tried of the dust (and the chunks of cob media stuck in flash holes) ... but mostly I was not getting the brass clean/polished enough.

Initially, I found that I had to run the Frankfort a ridiculously long time.
For a batch 100 rifle brass I would have to let it run a solid 4 hours with A$$ loads of lemi shine and dish soap.
Running the tumbler for 4 hours peened and beat the crap out of my case mouths.
I would always do a final rinse in distilled water to avoid getting black (mineral) spots.

I don't have a water softener, and recently I bought a 4 litre water distiller as Regina water is very hard, smells, and is really gross.

Now that I use distilled water in the wash cycle too, I find that I only need a 1/3 of the soap & lemi shine used previously, and the run time of an hour to hour and a half can make any case look newer than new.
 
If you want to wet tumble with less hassle, you don't need stainless pins. I just cleaned 30 000 pc of brass and just use a squirt of Dawn soap and a small amount of citric acid. (citric acid is what is in lemi shine to make your brass shiny)

Brass comes out clean and shiny and you don't have to mess around with separating steel pins. I run them for about 45 minutes.

For less dusty walnut media, add some polish or I've seen a few people recommend mineral spirits which I have not tried but shall.
 
I have read that rice is good media for vibratory cleaning. Never tried it though. Keep in mind there’s lead in the dust from primers. Don’t want to breathe that, respiratory issues or no.
 
Rip up a used dryer sheet and toss it in your tumbler each time you run it for awhile. They'll collect a ton of dust. Walnut media does slowly break down so you have to do this once in awhile.
 
I use corn cob and walnut media mixed together in the RCBS Vibratory cleaner..................it's always placed outside on the patio when in use.
 
I just switched to 18-40 walnut blast media from Lyman treated corn cob media. WOW that walnut is dusty compared to the Lyman treated stuff. Doesn't clean really dirty brass like the Lyman stuff either. BUT, its a 1/4 of the price or less.

To treat the walnut I used two cap fulls of liquid Nu Finish car wax and used dryer sheets cut up to help keep dust down.. I wish it cleaned really dirty brass though.

One big PRO about the 18-40 size walnut media I switched to is that its fine enough to not stick in the flash holes and also helps clean the primer pockets.
 
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